Built in 1829, the church, in Jarratt Street, Hull, is the oldest post-reformation Catholic Church in the city, and considered one of the most beautiful of its kind. It is now trying to raise money for its first major overhaul in a century.

So far £20,000 has been raised of the £150,000 needed. Action is needed to tackle crumbling plasterwork affected by water leaking through the roof.

Canon Michael Loughlin said: "We have an architect appointed by the Historic Churches Committee of the Diocese and we hope to set in motion a rolling programme of restoration.

"We hope to start on this particular wall which is pretty bad and then move onto other parts of the church, including looking at windows, lighting, and painting because the church hasn't been painted for such a long time."

The church was visited at the end of last year by English Heritage, which is reviewing ecclesiastical buildings in the Diocese of Middlesborough.

St Charles is already grade two star listed – meaning it is in a select band of "particularly important buildings of more than special interest".

Father Loughlin said he was confident it wouldn't be demoted. "We may even be upgraded which would be wonderful as it would open up other streams of funding."

Only last November the church was named as one of the 100 most beautiful Roman Catholic churches in a book called A Glimpse of Heaven.

It described the church looking in some ways like "a fantastical Roman church, with a heavy touch of the Austrian rococo" and sang the praises of its ornate decoration.